Note: Comments on this post are closed. Send your request for setup or help to to Exodus at wizbangblog dot com and all the fine folks who have volunteered to help will be notified. One of them will be back to you with details on the setup.

It's time for Blogspot Jihad Part II.

It's time to put a new call to arms out for a mass exodus off of BlogSpot. The major objection to moving to Movable Type is that you must pay a monthly fee to a hosting service to run MT. That's not a problem anymore...

For some unknown reason 1&1(Part of United Internet) is offering a free three year hosting setup with 5GB monthly transfer, e-mail, FTP, PHP, Perl, MySQL, CGI, SSH, and Cron Jobs. This is not a fly-by-bight company - they have the leadoff ad in this months Wired magazine.

Interested?

First - You will need to sign up for a free hosting plan at 1and1***. The plan is free hosting for 3 years no credit card required. You will need a phone number to activate the service.

Second - You will need a domain name for your blog. 1and1 allows you to register and configure a domain name for $5.99 a year, but you can use any registrar. You will need to handle the DNS settings yourself if you do not use the built-in registrations at 1and1.

Third - Leave a note in the comments that you signed up and are interested in an MT install (make sure you use a valid e-mail address in the form). I will contact you about getting the login settings for your control panel and other issues.

Call For Volunteers

Coordinators to help do blog setups for the less technically able should contact me. If we can get a small group to distribute the workload this shouldn't be too big a deal.

Additional Information

Since the 1and1 service is still sort of a technical unknown, it's going to be a few days before I have a feel for how MT will work on their service, but they appear to have all the proper components.

*** I have no financial ties to this company. Registering through that link does enter me in some sort of drawing, but you can find your way to their registration another way if you would like.

Update: I've got my fist site setup. No catch, no credit card required - just a phone number to activate. I used a work number (you have to be able to receive the call to get the PIN) and Hotmail to signup. I looked at the T&C's and there's nothing unusual. It's a full access hosting account, with all the features you'd get at other sites.

Here's a site I setup tonight with MT 2.64 running on MySQL: http://kevinaylward.com/. Total cost to setup: $0. Total monthly cost: $0.

Update 2: I've setup a new e-mail address to handle requests for the BlogSpot Jihad (Free MT hosting at 1and1). Send your requests to Exodus at wizbangblog dot com and all the fine folks who have volunteered to help will be notified. One of them will be back to you with details on the setup.

Comments on this post are closed. Send your request for setup or help to the e-mail address.

It looks like it could be an interesting addition to my blog, similar to the Bravenet polls that many bloggers are using. But, I'll be able to run as many as I like -- have people vote on individual posts, etc.

If people are using a service with PHP4 and MySQL, the $49 may be worth it -- another advantage for using MT on a service like this 1&1. Plus, installation is free with purchase.

I've been involved in the past jihad and would be delighted to help in this one as well. My offer is the reverse of what the other Xrlq offers; I'm useless with templates but can do installations in my sleep.

I'd be happy to help :) MT templates and MT itself. I went ahead and signed up for he 1and1 deal yesterday and familiarized myself with their control panel interface. I don't like it, but hey, they offer SSH so it's all good :D

My only real problem (besides being happy elsewhere) is that a free hosting account that rquires no real ID to start up is going to get abused by spammers. With some risk of blacklisting of IP blocks as a result. Let me know how it works out.

Xrlq - I tried a free host (Netfirms) with MT, and experienced that continuously. It worked fine when I had no posts, but I imported about 130 posts in and then I could never rebuild. I finally abandoned the host - it was unworkable. (Not for lack of effort...I found all sorts of tricks to minimize batches but never got it so I could actually use MT)

It seemed to be the a limitation placed on CGI, which proved fatal to MT, especially once you actually had content.

1and1 will not install Image::Magick, so you have to use the other alternative if you want thumbnailing for your images (I already did this but I forgot what it's called; look in your mt.cfg file to find out, then Google for some instructions. You will need to use ssh; download Putty if you are on windows, it's free and will do the job).

Glad to see so many people happy with MT. Just as a note, if you're interested in a hosted weblog service that, while not free, *does* support our development of Movable Type, you can try TypePad, which has a 30 day free trial, doesn't require any installation , and doesn't require you to know any HTML to customize your template.

And those of you who have donated to support Movable Type, thanks for helping us keep working on the system!

I think the verdict is that things seem to work, if and only if, you use MySQL. That's how we are setting people up... I've imported 500 posts from a text file no problem, and The King, XLRQ and others have setup quite a few sites.

Hi,
I have just followed the process above and registered with 1and1 and have secured a domain name (should have by the end of the day). I could really use some help with the MovableType install!
Brian Alger

I just secured myself a new 1and1 account, and would like to install Movable Type, but unfortunately have no experience with such things as "Perl." Can anyone set up my account? It's OK, I'm a Nice Guy.

I saw the ad for 1&1 in eWeek and it did look too good to be true but I tried it anyway and it seems legit so far hehe. I currently have an MT blog on a subdomain of someone else's domain and want to move it to my new domain (which I just registered). Any suggestions or set up FAQs or whatever would be helpful. Thank you! I really hope everyone interested is able to get this working for them. Thank you!

Just registered for 1and1.. seems like a great service, but I'm having trouble installing the MT thing. Can anyone assist with the installation? It seems simple enough but I just can't get it working.. Thanks in advance.

I've just joined 1&1. I want to set up a MovableType weblog but I don't know where to start. Do I need to install it on my computer first and then upload it? I am using Windows and any help will be appreciated. Thanks